Anti-dumping duty has been imposed for five years on 47 steel products including hot-rolled flat products of steel and those coated with zinc and clad steel.

An official notification issued late on Thursday stated that the anti-dumping duty will be in effect for five years beginning August 8, 2016. The duties are in the range of $478-561 per tonne. It said the Directorate of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) has found in its investigation that the subject goods have been exported to India at below their normal value, thus resulting in dumping of the product.

This has resulted in "material injury" to domestic industry, it said, and recommended "imposition of definitive anti-dumping duty on the imports of subject goods."

The duty has been levied on hot-rolled flat products of alloy or non alloy steel, originating in or exported from China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Brazil and Indonesia, the notification said.

India had imposed provisional anti-dumping duty on the steel products with effect from August 8, 2016 for six months. They were extended by two months in February. The same are now being regularised and levied for a five-year period.

Besides, India had previously imposed the duties on August 17, 2016, for six months on cold-rolled flat products of alloy or non-alloy steel from China, Japan, South Korea and Ukraine. The same were extended by two more months. Now, the duties have been imposed on hot-rolled products for five years.

"The anti-dumping duty imposed under this notification shall be effective for a period of five years (unless revoked, superseded or amended earlier) from the date of imposition of the provisional anti-dumping duty, that is, August 8, 2016, and shall be payable in Indian currency," the notification said.

The taxes are one of several measures the government has taken over the past two years to protect India's steel industry - the world's third largest by output - and that include putting a floor price on imports.

These measures have prompted the world's second biggest steel producer Japan to ask the World Trade Organization to set up a dispute settlement panel to examine India's actions.

Indian companies such as JSW Steel, Tata Steel and SAIL have already benefited from the restrictions on overseas purchases, with imports falling around 37 percent to 7.4 million tonnes and exports jumping 102 percent to 8.2 million tonnes in the year ended March 31 from a year ago.

The latest duty on hot-rolled steel follows a recommendation from the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties, which has also suggested a similar step for some cold-rolled products.

ArcelorMittal Q1 net at $1 bn; debt rises to $12.1 bn

The world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal on Friday reported a net profit of $1 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2017 but reported a rise in net debt to $12.1 billion during the period.

The firm, led by billionaire Lakshmi N Mittal, had posted a net loss of $416 million in the year-ago period, it said in a filing. Sales of the steel giant rose 20.08 per cent to $16.08 billion in January-March period from $13.39 billion in the corresponding period last year.

ArcelorMittal follows January-December fiscal year of accounting.

The Luxembourg-based firm, however, reported a higher net debt of $12.1 billion, which it attributed to "seasonal working capital investment of $2.2 billion" as against $11.1 billion on December 31, 2016.

ArcelorMittal's Chairman and CEO lakshmi Mittal said: "I am satisfied with the first quarter results, which reflect the anticipated positive momentum in the market and the progress we are making internally to make the business stronger."

He said that all parts of the business reported improved EBITDA as steel prices responded to higher raw material costs and strong volume growth saw steel shipments increase by 5.1 per cent compared to the preceding fourth quarter.

"Our mining segment benefited from an increase in iron- ore shipped at market prices as well as the higher raw material price environment. Looking ahead, we expect market conditions to be broadly stable in the second quarter. While this is encouraging, the steel industry is still impacted by unfair imports in many of our key markets and we hope to see further progress in ensuring the necessary trade solutions," he said.

Commenting on the Action Plan 2020, the company said it is progressing on track as per expectations. ArcelorMittal also reported steel shipments of 21.1 million tonnes (MT) in the first quarter of 2017, marginally lower from 21.5 MT in the year-ago period.

Iron ore shipments at market price in January-March rose to 8.7 MT from 7.8 MT in the same period last year. Crude steel production rose to 23.6 MT during the quarter under review from 23.2 MT in the year-ago period.